


Adventure and Understanding

by Lukenthius



Series: Plot Bunnies [26]
Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies)
Genre: Bad Parent Stoick the Vast, Concussions, F/M, First Dates, Hiccup is a Good Boyfriend, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Non-Consensual Haircuts, Not Astrid Friendly, Plotbunnies, Ruffnut's Short Hair, Story Cuts Off Suddenly, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-21 21:05:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18147359
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Lukenthius/pseuds/Lukenthius
Summary: A witch gives Ruffnut a chance to re-do her life by sending her back to just before Hiccup met Toothless. Maybe with a second chance, things will turn out better this time.And she might just get the man of her dreams.





	Adventure and Understanding

Story Name: untitled

Genre: Romance/Adventure

Rating: T

Category: How To Train Your Dragon

Ruffnut sat heavily at her kitchen table. She couldn't believe what Astrid had just told her. She'd been using Hiccup all these years. She didn't care about him at all, she just wanted him to make her popular.

She looked over at Fishlegs' work area and sighed. As much as she got on with the man, he wasn't a very good husband. Not for her anyway. If he had married a quieter girl it would have been better for him, but she was too wild and he was too calm. They didn't really suit each other.

Especially since she had fallen for Hiccup.

He was wild, adventurous, daring and unpredictable. You could never tell what he was about to do and he would always come up with the wildest and strangest of things. His inventions were innovative and inspiring. They helped everyone out a great deal. They made life more interesting and fun. The two of them sometimes compared ideas when Astrid wasn't in the village.

Ruffnut sighed again. If she had been nicer to Hiccup instead of ignoring him when they were younger then maybe she would have ended up with Hiccup.

"Perhaps you still can."

Ruff turned and looked at the strange woman. "How did you get into my house? Who are you?"

"My name isn't important. I got in though the door." She pointed over at the partially open door. "What is important is why I'm here. You see, I can give you what you want. A chance to go back and fix things. To do everything differently. To get a chance to make things right.”

Ruffnut grinned. “Sure.”

The woman grinned. “Great!” she pulled out a stick and pointed it at Ruff. “Enjoy!”

.oOo.

Ruff sat up with a jerk. Looking around she saw she was in the room she and Tuff had shared as kids. Sure enough he was there, in his bed, snoring his head off. Ruff smiled fondly and slid out of bed, silently getting dressed for the day while she gathered herself.

So, that woman was a witch and she’d sent her back in time.

Easy enough to believe.

But to when? Most likely sometime before Hiccup met Toothless.

She grinned. That was going to be fun.

She fixed her dagger in place, almost forgetting it. It felt weird having it again. She silently crept downstairs and smiled at her mom in the kitchen. “Hey mum.”

Her mother looked up. “Ruff? What are you doing up so early?”

Ruff shrugged. She walked over and stood next to her mother, watching her for a moment before joining in preparing breakfast, following her mom’s silent instructions. “Don’t know. I woke up.”

Her mom nodded. “Well, let’s get breakfast ready before your father wakes up.”

Ruff nodded, suppressing a shiver. Her father wasn’t the type of man you wanted to be around for long. Most of the tribe hated him. She was glad he had died in the raid on the nest just before the final round at the academy. After breakfast was cooked Ruff quickly ate a bit and slid out of the house. She followed her feet, deep in thought.

How was she going to get to know Hiccup? She could hardly walk up to him and say ‘hey, I like you, do you wanna date?’ he would run a mile and truth be told, the Hiccup she was in love with wasn’t the Hiccup here now. They had all grown.

Oh gods, Snotlout.

He had only matured when he finally found a wife willing to tolerate him who had then trained him to behave less full of himself.

Gods know how long that would take this time with Astrid still on the market.

Maybe she could- “Ah!” “Omof!”

Ruff shook her head and looked up to see Hiccup quickly getting up. “Ah, Ruffnut! Sorry! I’m so sorry. I wasn’t watching where I was going.” He held a hand down to her.

Ruff blinked slightly. How many times had he reached down to one on them and had his hand brushed away? He was always looking to help everyone but no one ever accepted it. Until now. She reached up and grasped his hand. He easily pulled her to her feet. “Wow... you’re stronger than I expected...” she said absentmindedly. Hiccup blushed which caused Ruff to blush in answer. “That was weird. Sorry. Um... thanks. Um... sorry for, you know, walking into you. I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Hiccup shook his head. “No, I wasn’t paying attention. It was my fault.”

Ruff laughed. “Let’s say it was both our fault, huh?”

Hiccup smiled and Ruff was caught by surprise. She hadn’t seen that smile before. Normally at this age he just gave a fake ‘I’m completely unaffected by your hate’ smile. “Do you wanna hang out later?”

Hiccup blinked and Ruff blushed, realising she had spoken out loud. “Huh?”

Ruff looked away slightly. “I mean, if you’re not busy or anything... I know you work late at the forge sometimes... if you’re free... do you, I don’t know, wanna like, eat or something? There’s a cool place round the west of the island with a white beach, the sunsets pretty cool.” Ruff shrugged and shut up before she started rambling.

Hiccup blinked. “Um... sure.”

Ruff grinned. “Great. I’ll pick you up at the forge later?” Hiccup nodded and Ruff grinned wider. “See you then.” She waved as she ran off. She got halfway across the village before stopping. She sighed and leant against the wall. She blinked several times before grinning again. _I have a date with Hiccup._

She rushed home ignored her brother and mother eating breakfast as she ran upstairs. Clothes soon flew as she frantically searched for something to wear. Tuff poked his head in the room. “What are you doing?”

“I have a date tonight! I need something to wear!”

Her mother poked her head around the door. “Did I hear date?”

“Yup.”

“Who?”

“Hiccup.”

“Where?”

“Picnic at the beach.”

Her mother came into the room and clothes soon began to fly at a much faster rate. Soon Ruff had an outfit picked for this evening and set it out on the bed while her mother started picking up the discarded clothed to put it back in the dresser.

Tuff scrunched his face up. “Why go through all that trouble?”

Ruff sighed. “Okay. For a date, I need something pretty and practical. Since we’ll be on the beach I can’t wear anything too short or too long. It’ll also be around sunset so I can’t be too cold, but I can’t wear too much since it’s a date and I have to look pretty. I also want to look pretty without looking like I’m making too much of an effort.”

“But you were taking a lot of effort.”

“Not really. It could be worse.” Ruff shrugged and stood up. “Well, I have the whole day to kill. I’ll be back later so I can make some food.”

Her mother frowned. “Shouldn’t he be the one bringing it?”

Ruff shook her head. “Nah, I asked him to come and he’ll be at the forge until late.”

Her mother nodded. “Right. Well, your father will be at the training ground today so don’t go there.”

Ruff nodded and left the house, Tuff following. Ruff was suddenly faced with a dilemma. Tuff was going to hang out with Snotface all day and she didn’t know if she could handle that again just yet. Fishlegs would be with them simply because he didn’t have anywhere else to go. She didn’t want to hang out with Astrid like she usually did and Hiccup was busy at the forge all day.

Ruff sighed. “What to do... what to do...”

Tuff tilted his head. “Wanna go tip some yaks?”

Ruff smiled. “Sure.” Tuff always knew how to take her mind off things.

.oOo.

Hiccup walked into the forge, frowning. Gobber looked him over. “Oh no. I know that face. What are you trying to figure out now? It’s not another one of your inventions is it?”

“No... it’s Ruffnut.”

“Oh? What about her?”

“I think I have a date with her tonight...”

Gobber’s eyebrows disappeared. “What?”

“I have a date with Ruffnut tonight.”

Gobber blinked for a moment. “I thought that was what you said...” he shook his head slowly. “I thought you liked that Astrid girl?”

Hiccup shrugged one shoulder. “I... yeah, just...” he frowned, remembering the way Ruffnut had laughed earlier. The way she’d looked at him. “I don’t know.” He shrugged. “I’ll figure it out.” He walked over to his work station and picked up the first sword that needed sharpening.

Gobber hummed. “Perhaps you should get her a gift?”

Hiccup blinked. “Um... yeah, actually that’s a good idea. I could make her something.”

Gobber nodded and took the sword off him. “Good. You go do that, I’ll man the forge. Just get back to work when you’re done.”

Hiccup nodded and went into his sanctum to start designing something for Ruffnut. Girls like jewellery right?

.oOo.

Ruff packed the last of their picnic into the basket and shouldered it. “Be back later.” She waved to her mom and slid out of the door, rushing off to the forge. When she got there she saw Hiccup waiting just outside the doorway. She smiled as she jogged over. “Hey.”

Hiccup smiled at her. “Hey, you look nice.” He reached over and took the pack off her, sliding it onto his own shoulder.

“Thanks.” She said, referring to both the complement and his taking the pack.

“I made you this.” He held out a box, a slight blush creeping over his cheeks.

Ruff took the box off him and opened it. She gasped. “Oh! Hiccup. It’s beautiful! Thank you.” She looked up at him and then back down to the necklace. It was a plain silver chain with a simple pendant shaped like a flame hanging from it, but the flame was so intricately designed and the whole thing was the most beautiful thing she’d ever owned. She blushed slightly. “Can you put it on me?” she asked shyly, turning slightly.

Hiccup blushed slightly and accepted the pendant, easily slipping it under her hair and fastening it at the back.

Ruff smiled as she turned back over and kissed him on the cheek. “Thanks.”

Hiccup went very red. “Um... I, er...”

Ruff giggled, feeling very much like a woman right now. “Shall we go?”

Hiccup nodded and Ruff took his arm, leading him through the village towards the beach she had in mind. The sands were white there and the sunset was truly beautiful. Hiccup himself had shown it to her last year, they were looking for something for Astrid and they had gone there last, just in time to see the sunset.

Ruff smiled at the memory and looked sideways at Hiccup. He looked a bit awkward and he was still slightly flushed. She supposed they had both been doing a lot of that lately. It seemed weird to be on a date with kid Hiccup when she was essentially a thirty six year old woman.

And it was strange that kid Hiccup could make her feel more like a beautiful, attractive woman than Fishlegs had ever done. Bless his heart he just didn’t get her they way Hiccup did. Hiccup made her feel wanted, appreciated. Even kid Hiccup did. And the necklace. Ruff reached up to touch it and felt a goofy smile spread across her face. It was the most amazing thing she’d ever had.

It wasn’t long before they reached the beach and Ruff took the blanket out of the basket and Hiccup took it off her and spread it out on the ground. Ruff smiled and settled down next to him.

Hiccup looked awkwardly around for a moment and Ruffnut realised she had absolutely no idea what to do now. Hiccup thankfully saved the date by asking a question. “So, what have you been doing today?”

Ruff shrugged. “I just tipped some yaks with Tuff and then listened to Fish talk about dragons stuff for a while. Dragon training starts up soon right?”

Hiccup nodded. “Yeah.”

Ruff nodded. “What about you?”

Hiccup blushed. “Um, well... after I got to the forge, Gobber suggested I get you something so, I made you that.” He pointed at the necklace. “I did a bit of work on some swords and things. A few needed sharpening but there wasn’t much to do today. I did some more work on my bola launcher too.”

“Bola launcher? Something to launch bola for you?”

Hiccup nodded. “Yeah. It’s almost done. Just a few mild calibration issues to fix and I’m done.”

Ruff sat forwards. “Really? How does it work?”

“Oh, I have the arm on a lock and load but its pretty heavy so the whole thing is on a mobile base. It can pivot on its axis for full circle aim and it has a scope for better accuracy.”

Ruff nodded. “I only understood about half of that but it sounds cool. What else are you working on? That fire thing was a good idea.”

Hiccup nodded. “Yeah, the fire extinguisher. Shame it didn’t work out. There’s just not enough water up high to make it work.”

Ruff nodded. “It rains enough. What if you built, like, a giant barrel with stuff to catch the rain? You could make the water run from there and have something that could be pulled to make the water flow over the side and put out the fires.”

Hiccup nodded. “Yeah... I suppose that could work. It would make it easier to put out fires. But what about the dragon raids?”

“They’ll knock it over and everything will get wet so it won’t catch fire so easily. And it won’t be strong enough for them to land on.”

Hiccup nodded. “That could work.” He pulled out his notebook and wrote it down. “That’s actually a good idea.”

Ruff blushed slightly and nodded. “Well, it was your idea. I just... changed it a bit.”

Hiccup smiled at her and from there the date went easily. They talked about Hiccup’s inventions and ways to improve them, ways around problems, new things to get around other problems Hiccup hadn’t invented anything for and a load of other things from the other teens to their parents, Gobber, Mildew, Gothi and various other villagers.

They eventually ate the food and sat in silence, Ruff leaning her head against Hiccup’s shoulder, as they watched the sun set.

When it finally sank below the sea they stood and Hiccup walked her home. Ruff smiled and took his hand as they walked. When they finally got back to her house she smiled. “I had fun tonight.”

Hiccup smiled at her. A genuine one, as she had seen all evening, rather than one of his fake ones. “Me too. Perhaps we could do this again some time?”

Ruff blushed. “Yeah. Sounds good.” She leant forwards and kissed his cheek. “See ya.” She slid into the house, basket in hand and rushed over to her mother. She jumped and dived on the woman, practically squealing.

“Oh my gods, mum.”

.oOo.

Ruff sat in her room. The house shook as another explosion hit nearby. It was two days since her date with Hiccup. Her father had found out and confined her to the house. As in, the door to her room was locked and Tuff was sleeping downstairs. Her mother came in twice a day with food but other than that she was stuck. She was kind of glad. She didn’t want to be out there right now.

There was a creak and Ruff paled. Wait... in this raid... didn’t her house...

The ceiling fell in and a Deadly Nadder landed on the floor of her room. It blinked at her a moment. Ruff held out her hand. “Easy boy... easy... you’re okay...” the Nadder lunged forward and she ducked. There was a sharp tugging at the top of her head and suddenly she was airborne. She screamed and twisted as she heard her name being called. She saw Tuff looking up at her. “Tuffnut!”

“RUFFNUT!!”

She twisted again in the dragons grip, trying to work her hair out of its mouth. “Let me go.” She managed to wrap her legs around its neck and grip on. She pulled the dagger out of her boot and reached up, cutting her hair off.

She swung upside down and looked down at the forest below her. She let go with her legs and reached forwards, grabbing a branch on the way down. She swung and dropped down to the next branch. Landing on her feet. She watched the Nadder hover for a minute before waving her arm at it. “Piss off!” The Nadder snorted and turned in the air, flying off towards Dragon island.

It was only then that Ruff realised he was taking her in the wrong direction. She frowned for a moment before remembering Valka. “Oh, he was taking me to the king.”

She nodded, satisfied having worked it out and slowly climbed down from the tree. She had only got a few branches down when a high pitched whistle indicated a Nightfury nearby. A crash not too far from her indicated Toothless’ crash-landing.

“Wow...” she climbed the rest of the way down the tree and hid in some bushes. All was silent so she crept slowly towards where Toothless should be. It was not long after she finally found him that Hiccup came into view. He ducked down behind a rock before peeking out.

She saw him walk up to the downed dragon and watched the first meeting between the two. She smiled at Hiccup’s posing. She barely held back a giggle as Toothless shook him off. It was as she watched the dragon stare at Hiccup that she realised, this wasn’t Toothless. This was a wild Nightfury who had not learned to trust Hiccup yet.

She bit her lip and almost felt her heart stop as Toothless pinned Hiccup to a rock and screamed in his face before running off. She watched him crash into several trees in his escape. She then looked over to Hiccup as he stood up and then fell straight back down again, his head making a hollow thunk against the same rock from before.

She dived out of the bush and rushed to his side. “No, no, no...” she touched the back of his head and whimpered at the blood. She quickly pulled off her jacket and shirt, undoing her chest bindings. She carefully sat Hiccup up on the rock and started bandaging his head. “Don’t be dead... don’t be dead... don’t be dead.”

“Ruff?”

Ruffnut looked down and met the foggy, confused green of Hiccup’s eyes. “Hold on.” She looked back up and finished bandaging his head. “Almost done.” She tied it off and sat back, looking at Hiccup’s face and seeing him trying and failing not to look at her chest.

She smiled slightly before she sniffed. One quickly turned into another and before she knew it she was clutching desperately onto Hiccup’s chest sobbing. Honestly what was wrong with her lately? She’d been acting so weird since she got sent back in time. And that in itself was weird.

Hiccup’s hands gently rubbed her back as she calmed down. She pulled away from him and wiped her eyes. “S-Sorry... I... you... I thought... you were...”

Hiccup cupped her cheek and lifted her face. “Hey. I’m fine.” He ran a hand through her hair. “What happened?”

Ruff smiled slightly. “Got carried off by a Nadder. I had to cut my hair. How bad is it?” she remembered how badly Tuff teased her after she cut her hair when they rescued Scauldy. No one said anything against him so...

Hiccup tilted his head and seriously looked at her. “Actually... you look good with short hair. It’s kind of uneven but I could fix it up if you want?”

Ruff blushed at his blunt honesty. “Could you?”

Hiccup nodded and picked up his dagger. “Yeah. Just turn around.” Ruff nodded and turned around, pulling her shirt back on as she did so. She soon felt gentle tugs and pulls on her hair and bits of it fell down past her face. It wasn’t long before he’d finished. Ruff ran a hand through her now much shorter hair and sighed. “This’ll take some getting used too...” she dropped her hand back into her lap.

Her eyes widened as she felt Hiccup’s hand run through her hair. “I like it like this.”

She gulped as she felt her scalp tingle, sending shocks straight down to her junk. “Really?”

“Yeah. It suits you. You should keep it short.”

Ruff smiled. “Sure.” She turned to look at him and caught a strange look on his face before he looked down and picked up her shoulder pads and passed them to her. “Thanks.”

Hiccup nodded and looked down slightly. “You’re wearing the necklace I made you.”

Ruff nodded and blushed. After their date she had taken to wearing it at all times instead of the tooth pendant she’d had before. “Um... yeah... I really like it.”

Hiccup smiled. “Good. I was worried you’d think it was too much or something.”

“No, it’s amazing! I’ve never had anything so beautiful before. It kind of... makes me feel special.” She shrugged.

Hiccup gave her that strange look again. “You are special though.”

Ruff blushed and stood up. “Um... thanks... we, we should be getting back.”

Hiccup nodded and slowly stood up, holding one hand out to the side as he steadied himself. “Alright.”

They slowly made their way back through the forest. Hiccup laughed slightly when he spotted the cut off bit’s of Ruffnut’s hair in the bushes below the tree she had landed in.

When they got to the village it was silent. They looked at each other before making their way to the Mead Hall. There was sounds coming from within and they both shrugged as they stepped closer and slipped inside.

“Now who’s with me?” There was a lot of murmuring and disagreement. “Alright. Anyone who stays behind has to look after Hiccup.” Stoic smirked as everyone’s hands shot into the air. Ruffnut reached across and gripped Hiccup’s hand. He squeezed hers back and she frowned up at their chief. “That’s better. We leave in the morning.” He looked towards the door. “Hiccup...”

“Dad... so nice to know you all think so lowly of me that you’d all rather go on a suicide mission than have to ‘look after’ me.” His voice was practically dripping in sarcasm.

Ruff stepped closer to him and gripped his hand tighter. She glared at Stoic. She had to bite back from saying something scathing. Hiccup was the only one allowed to badmouth Stoic, aside from Gobber. She shook her head and tugged Hiccup’s hand, leading him towards the door.

Tuff stepped up to them. “Ruff?”

Ruff looked at him. “Yeah?”

He blinked before lunging forward and hugging her. “I... I saw you... that Nadder...”

Ruff let go of Hiccup’s hand and wrapped her arms around her brother. “It’s okay. I cut off my hair and fell into a tree. I’m alright.” She gently rubbed his back as he clung to her. She could tell he was barely withholding tears and she knew why. If she had seen him being carried off by a dragon... she tightened her grip. “I’m okay.” She grunted slightly as her mother wrapped her arms around them both. “I’m okay, mom. Really.”

.oOo.

Hiccup felt Ruffnut take his hand and was glad. Did everyone hate him that much? He squeezed her hand back. His chest felt tight and the back of his head was pounding again, his heart beating impossibly loudly in his ears. He locked eyes with his dad.

“Hiccup...”

He swallowed. “Dad...” his voice was thick with hurt so he reacted almost like instinct now. Sarcasm. “So nice to know you all think so lowly of me that you’d all rather go on a suicide mission than have to ‘look after’ me.” He felt Ruff step closer to him and grip his hand tighter. He drew comfort from that. No one had read him so well before. She knew he was hurting. She gently tugged his hand and he turned, heading towards the door. He stopped when Tuffnut called to her.

He watched them for a moment and stepped back when Ruff released his hand to hold her brother. He couldn’t imagine what Tuffnut must have felt seeing Ruff get carried away like that.

“Hiccup...”

Hiccup felt his chest tighten again and turned, looking up at his dad. “Dad.”

“Hiccup... I...”

Hiccup shook his head. “No. It’s fine. I’m a disappointment. A hiccup... a mistake. I get it. I can’t help it. I know you’d rather have a son like Snotlout. You tell me often enough.”

“What? When?”

“Whenever you come home after drinking too much mead. You lecture me for a good hour on how I’m not good enough for you.”

“Hiccup...”

“I’ll see you at home.” He turned and left, unwilling to have this conversation in the middle of the Mead Hall with everyone watching.

.oOo.

Ruffnut shook her head. “You are a good chief, but you’re pretty clueless as a father.”

Stoic turned and frowned at her. “What?”

“Didn’t you notice his head was bandaged?”

Stoic blinked and frowned before looking guilty. “Oh... what happened?”

Ruff shook his head. “You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

Stoic frowned. “What do ya mean?”

Ruff glared at him. “I mean that you always expect the worst of him. You never think he can do anything right and when he actually does do something right you completely brush him off. He works himself to the bone trying to become someone you could be proud of, to gain just a little bit of love from you and you just brush him off at every turn. You can work yourself to the bone dealing with the entire village’s problems, but you can’t spare two minutes for your own son.”

Ruff brushed her mother’s hands off and left the Mead Hall, following Hiccup.

.oOo.

Hiccup thanked Gothi as she finished examining his head. She smiled gently. “You were lucky. Any harder and it would have broken your skull.”

Hiccup looked at her in surprise. “You can talk?”

“Only to those willing to listen.”

There was a knock at the door and Ruff poked her head in. “Hey Hiccup, can I come in?”

“Yeah, Gothi just finished looking me over.” He stood up and looked around the kitchen. “Either of you hungry?”

Gothi nodded.

Ruff grinned. “Starved.”

Hiccup nodded and picked up a few things, easily chopping them and making a light stew. It was almost daybreak now. The boats would be leaving soon. He looked up and saw Gothi having a staring contest with Ruffnut. Hiccup looked at her. He hadn’t seen her since their date. She had light shadows under her eyes, as if she hadn’t been sleeping well. Her short hair framed her face much better now than before. Her long hair made her face look longer.

.oOo.

Gothi nodded. “You’ll do well.”

Ruff jerked backwards. “You can talk?”

“Only to those who would listen.”

“Everyone listens.”

“Everyone hears, but not all listen.” Gothi turned and looked out the window. “Change is coming. But for the better or worse, I cannot say.”

Ruff looked out the window with her, not really seeing what was out there. “I know. But don’t worry. Things’ll get better.”

Gothi looked at her for a moment and Ruff stared back. She suddenly became aware of someone looking at her and turned to face Hiccup. He blushed slightly. “Um... stew okay?”

Ruff nodded. “Yeah. Stew’s fine. I’ve been living off bread for the last couple days.”

Hiccup frowned. “What do you mean?”

Ruff shrugged. “My dad found out I went on a date with you. He wasn’t impressed. I’ve been locked in my room since.”

Hiccup frowned further. “Oh... I’m sorry...”

Ruff shook her head and gently gripped his hand. “Hey. It’s okay. It doesn’t change anything. My dad is not the kind of man you would want to spend any amount of time with. The only reason he hasn’t been shipped out to sea yet is because he’s a good fighter.” She sat back and shrugged. “He’s reckless. He’s gonna get himself killed at some point and when he does I’ll be happy.”


End file.
